Therapeutic cot



May 16, 1961 w. PORRITT THERAPEUTIC COT Filed Oct. 5, 1959 INVENTOR. Leonard WPorr/ff BY Buck/70m, Chem/1am 8 B/0 e ATTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent This invention relates'to a therapeutic cot and more particularly tea cot'useful for treating patients by chiropractic physicians'or usefulto-patients requiring such treatment. 1

The cot of the pres'entinvention enables a' patient to recline withhis head lower than' his feet. It also enables a patientto be rapidly and easily placed in such reclining position froma standing position; and to be again easily and rapidly returned to his feet by the physician or an attendant The cot includes a deck upon which thep'atient 'reclines and such deck is supported by a :leg' structure at one end and by a longitudinally extending rocker struc'ture intermediate the end of the cot and engaging the lloor or other supportingsurface a distance from suchend which is somewhat more than one-half the (length'ofithe cot. .The rocker structure is preferably somewhat greater in height than the leg structher modified structure.

ture so that the upper surface of the deck has an inclina- I ation downwardly toward the end of the cot supported by, the. legs'KA patient reclining upon the cot has his head at such end.' This relieves the weight of the upper portion of the body upon the spine and tends to stretch the spine. 3 lf desired the vertical height of the canbeVafidtosuitdiflerent patients. 1

The rocker structure is provided to enable the cot to be tipped or rocked endwise by manually raising the head end of the cot, which is the end having the leg structure, so that the deck of the cot assumes a vertically extending position with the head end of the cot elevated. The other or foot end of the cot is thereby brought close to the floor so that an elderly or feeble patient in a standing position can lean against the surface of the deck, while the cot is supported in a vertically extending position by an attendant, and then the head end of the cot lowered to the floor by such attendant. The patient may grip the side edges of the cot during the initial stages of such lowering operation or desired, a step portion may be provided at the foot end of the cot upon which the patient may stand during such initial stages. The patient can be returned to a, standing position by a reversal of the procedure just outlined. An active patient can manipulate the cot himself to more easily place himself upon the cot by sitting on the side of the cot when it is partly rocked toward the foot lowered position and then shifting his weight by reclining to cause the cot to rock to its position with the head end lower than the foot end. Again he can more easily remove himself from the cot by a reversal of this procedure. The cot is preferably constructed of light weight metal tubing with the support portion of the deck woven of fabric strips secured at their ends to side and end tubular light weight elements providing a bounding frame of the deck structure, although other suitable constructions can be employed.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved therapeutic cot which is particularly leg structure maybe made adjustable so; that such effect ice useful in enabling a patient to recline with his head somewhat lower than his feet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a therapeutic cot in which a rocker portion is provided to enable the cot to be easily tipped endwise between a horizontally extending position and a vertically extending position with the foot end of the cot adjacent the floor so as to assist in placing a patient on the cot and removing such patient from the cot.

A further object of the invention is to provide a light weight therapeutic cot which can be positioned on a level supporting surface with the head end of its deck lower than the foot end thereof and which also can be rocked endwise to elevate the head end and position the foot end adjacent such surface.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description of preferred embodiments thereof shown in the attached drawing of which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a cot in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the cot of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the head end of a cot similar to that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 but showing a modified structure; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of a cot similar to the cots of Figs. 1 and 2 or of Fig. 3, showing .a fur- Referring more particularly to the drawings, the cot of Figs. 1 and 2 includes a deck structure 10, a leg structure 12 and a rocker structure 14. The deck structure is preferably constructed of a pair of frame members 16 having'longitudinally extending portions 18 providing side elements of a deck frame and having laterally extending portions 20 at their ends. .The portions 20 are bent at right angles to the portions 18 and have their ends secured together by suitable joints 22 to form end elements of the deck frame. Longitudinally extending strips of fabric 24 having their ends looped about the end elements 20 are interwoven with laterally extending strips 26 of fabric having their ends looped about the side elements 18 to form a deck surface structure indicated generally at 28.

The leg structure 12 may be a single piece of light weight metal tubing having a laterally extending floor engaging portion 30, upstanding leg portions 32 at the ends of the portion 30 and longitudinally extending fastening portions 34 at the upper ends of the leg portions and each suitably secured to one end of a side element 18 of the deck structure.

The rocker structure 14 includes a pair of curved rocker members 36 whose radius of curvature is preferably greatest adjacent their ends and decreased toward their central portions. The end portions 38"of such rocker members are reversely bent so as to extend longitudinally of the cot and the end portions of each rocker member are suitably secured to the side elements 18 of the deck structure at longitudinally spaced positions. The rocker members 36 are secured together and braced by stretcher members 40 at points intermediate their lengths and are positioned so that they contact the floor or other supporting surface at positions below the deck structure and at a distance somewhat more than one-half the length of the deck sturcture from the head end of the cot. The rocker structure 14 will in most cases be of somewhat greater vertical height than the leg structure 12 so that the head end of the cot will be somewhat lower than the foot end and so that the deck structure of the cot will have an inclination downwardly toward the head end of the cot.

In operation, the entire cot can be tipped endwise on the rocker members 36 toward the foot end of the cot by manually elevating the head end of the cot. A patient in a standing position can lean with his back against the surface structure 24 of the cot while it is supported with the head end in elevated position and can grasp the side elements 18 with his hands. The cot can then be easily lowered on the rocker members to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This positions the patient in a reclining position with his head lower than his feet and after a suitable length of time, the patient can again be placed on his feet by elevating the head end of the cot.

A modification of the cot is shown in Fig. 3. In such figure the foot end of a modified deck structure a is shown as having an extension 41 of light weight metal tubing secured thereto. Such extension is bent at an angle to the general plane of the deck structure and a plate 42 is secured to such extension and to an end element of the deck structure so as to provide a foot member upon which the patient can stand during the initial portion of the lowering of the head portion of the cot with a patient thereon, and during the latter portion of the elevation of the head portion of the cot to return the patient to standing position. In Fig. 3, the foot portion of the modified cot is shown in the position it assumes when the head portion of the cot is in elevated position.

In Fig. 4 a further modification is shown which enables the endwise inclination of the deck structure of the cot, when the leg structure thereof is resting on the floor or other supporting surface, to be adjusted. The leg structure shown in Fig. 4 includes a pair of separate legs 44 of tubular metal construction, each having a longitudinally extending fastening portion 46 suitably secured to a side element 18 of the deck structure. Each leg 44 is provided with an adjustable floor engaging element 48 screw threaded into its lower end so that the length of the legs and therefore the inclination of the deck structure of the cot can be adjusted. The angle of inclination of the deck structure with respect to the horizontal, with dilferent cots depending upon the inclination desired, can vary within wide limits, for example, from ahnost horizontal to sixty degrees. Also the angle which the deck structure can have with the vertical when the head of the cot is elevated until the foot end of the cot touches the supporting surface can vary within relatively wide limits, for example, from sixty degrees to eighty-five degrees.

I claim:

A cot comprising a horizontally extending deck structure having side and end elements of light weight metal tubing forming a boundary for said deck structure, a deck surface structure extending between and supported by said elements, a leg structure of light weight metal tubing secured to certain of said elements at one end of said deck structure for supporting said one end above a supporting surface, a curved element of light weight metal tubing having its ends secured to longitudinally spaced portions of each of said side elements and having an intermediate curved portion extending downwardly from said deck structure and engaging said supporting surface to support the remainder of said deck structure on said supporting surface, said curved elements being positioned to engage said supporting surface at positions below and adjacent the middle of the length of said side elements and spaced from said one end of said deck structure a distance greater than one half the length of said side elements and providing for rocking said cot in an endwise direction toward the other end of said deck structure to raise said deck toward a vertically extending position, said curved elements being of greater height than said leg structure so that said deck structure has an inclination downwardly toward said one end of said deck structure when said curved elements and said leg structure engage a horizontal surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 90,866 Bielecky Oct, 17, 1933 1,706,267 Van De Mark et a1. Mar. 19, 1929 2,567,626 Trouslot Sept. 11, 1951 2,710,050 DuBois June 7, 1955 2,890,545 Fiddler June 16, 1959 OTHER REFERENCES 626,264 Great Britain July 12, 1949 

